How to Create a Freelance Proposal
Proposals are a key piece in securing clients for your freelance business.
But for many freelancers, how and when to create one isn’t always clear. Some common questions that come up when you hear the word “proposal” as a freelancer include:
What is a proposal? Do I really need to send a proposal? How do I create a proposal for freelance work? What do I include in my proposal?
To answer these questions and more, let’s go over the role of proposals for freelancers and how to confidently build a professional proposal to send to clients.
What is a Freelance Proposal?
A freelance proposal is a cohesive document sent to clients that clearly outlines the work you’re offering to do and the terms of the agreement. It should also give clients the ability to accept and sign. At a high level, a proposal = project goals + scope of work + contract terms.
Why freelancers should use proposals
Freelance proposals are the final piece of the puzzle when it comes to securing clients. When built right, a proposal helps you come across more professional as it provides clarity to what you’ll be delivering, and communicates confidence in your pricing while emphasizing the value of your work.
A detailed proposal can also help you secure more clients, faster. By including everything from the full scope of work to project goals to contract terms in one document, you can reduce the back-and-forth conversations and get to “yes” more quickly.
When should you send a proposal?
Every freelancer’s business is different, but the typical pipeline from finding a new client to sending a proposal goes something like this:
A client expresses interest in working with you.
You set up an initial conversation (sometimes called a discovery call) to learn more about their project needs This is where the foundation of the proposal is built as you figure out what should be included in your proposed scope of work.
Based on the conversation, you send a proposal that outlines the project goals, scope of work, and your contract terms.
Basically, sending a proposal is the final step in securing your new client. Once the client reviews and signs your proposal, then you’re ready to begin the fun part — actually doing the work you love.
3 Things to Include in a Proposal for Freelance Work
To win over a potential client, your proposal needs to provide a comprehensive overview of what the project aims to achieve, how you plan on doing it, and what the client can expect when working with you.
Let’s go over the main elements to include in a winning freelance proposal that clients will easily say yes to.
1. Project goals
Start your proposal off by including a high-level statement that describes the project’s goals. This section should be informed by what you and your client discussed during your initial conversations.
Outline what the client’s goal for the project is and identify how the scope of work you included will achieve those goals. This is your opportunity to show the client that you understand what they need and emphasize the value you provide.
2. Scope of work
Next is the scope of work — a strong scope will lay the foundation for the rest of your proposal and set you up for a successful project. Not only does a clearly defined scope of a work provide ease and clarity for both you and your client, but it also helps avoid scope creep or confusion for everyone involved. Plus, we’ve heard from freelancers who use Wethos that a simplified scoping process has saved them loads of time and mental energy.
The scope of work section of your proposal should outline the specific work being delivered for the project, the quantity of each deliverable (if relevant), and the price of each. For example, let’s say you’re creating a proposal for a social media strategy scope of work. One of the line items you could include is the number of platforms your strategy will cover, what each strategy will cover, and how much each one cost. You can go into even more detail by sharing when each deliverable is due and who on your team is responsible for it if you’re working with other freelancers on the project.
If you’re unsure of how to price your scope of work, see what other freelancers are charging by checking out the pricing recommendations included in Wethos’ scope of work templates. These prices are sourced from freelancers just like you and are broken down by service to make it clear exactly how much to charge for everything you provide to your clients.
Once you have an idea of how others price their work, you can use that as a baseline for how much to charge for your project and adjust from there. When your pricing is backed by market data, you can confidently (and quickly) put together a proposal that helps you earn more.
3. Contract terms
78% of companies will rely on freelancing this year. While this number is huge, for some clients, this may be their first time working with a freelancer. It’s your job as a freelancer to guide the proposal process and set the tone for what clients can expect when working with you.
This includes adding detailed contract terms to your proposals. Not only do contract terms protect you and your business, but they can also help educate clients on what to expect when working with a freelancer.
Your proposal’s contract terms should outline the specific terms of the project as well as the standard terms you use for your freelance business. Examples of contract terms include details about project timelines and hand-off dates, ownership of deliverables, or how you accept payments.
Not sure what to include in your contract terms? Wethos has a library with over 20 pre-built, detailed contract terms made for freelancers. You can browse through these contract terms to find ones that make the most sense for your project and easily add them to your proposal.
How to Create a Freelance Proposal on Wethos
Gone are the days of creating proposals in Word docs and PDFs. Using an online proposal builder like Wethos makes it easy to seamlessly create detailed, branded proposals that you can use to confidently pitch clients faster.
If you’re ready to build professional, comprehensive proposals in minutes using Wethos, here’s how to get started.
1. Leverage our community-sourced scope of work templates
As we know, a detailed scope of work is the building block of a strong proposal. That’s why Wethos offers a library of over 400+ proposal templates built for freelancers, by freelancers.
With pricing recommendations from other freelancers, you never have to question what to charge and can confidently build your proposal, whether you choose to use a template or create a scope from scratch. Create your proposal in minutes by leveraging one of Wethos’ community-sourced proposal templates.
2. Create your scope
In Wethos, you have a few options for building the scope of work that goes into your proposal. As we mentioned above, you can get started by using one of the proposal templates and edit it to fit your project needs. You can also use a past scope that you’ve already sent or you create a new one from scratch.
No matter how you choose to create your proposal, there are a few key items to include when building your scope of work:
Services: You can use the Wethos library to browse and easily add over 1,000 pre-built and priced services or add your own.
Quantity: Here you can include an amount for each service, whether that’s a certain number of hours, pieces of content, or anything else that could be quantifiable.
Description: Include details of the work you’ll be doing for this service.
Price: Here’s where those pricing recommendations come into play. Using the pricing data from other freelancers as your baseline, include a price for each of the deliverables in your scope of work.
3. Add your branding
Your proposal sets the tone for what it will be like to work with you. Impress your clients from the start by adding your branding to make your proposals look even more professional. You can add your business name, business logo, custom colors, and all of your client information in the proposal builder page.
4. Add your contract terms
Finally, add your contract terms to complete your proposal and make it even more comprehensive. You can browse through Wethos’ library of contract terms or create your own custom terms that suit the needs of your project.
Some examples of contract terms to add include:
Late payments
Feedback rounds
Payment method
Term and termination
Adding contract terms to your proposal is not only professional and sets expectations early on, but it also helps reduce the time it takes to secure a new client.
5. Send your proposal for signature
The final step in the proposal process is sending the final document to your client to review and sign. Once your scope and contract terms are ready to share, you have a few options for sending your proposal to your client for signature using Wethos. You can:
Send your proposal directly through the platform
Copy the share link to share it outside of the platform
Download the proposal as a PDF
After you send your proposal using Wethos, your client can easily review and accept your scope and terms in one place which means you can move your projects forward even faster.
A strong freelance proposal is the key to securing clients, feeling confident in your work, and earning more for your freelance business. Keep these elements in mind the next time you’re building a freelance proposal.
Ready to build your first proposal? Sign up for Wethos to discover the power of our Proposal Builder.